AACP Remembers Two Remarkable Asian Americans

This past September saw the passing of two outstanding figures in the Asian American community - Yuji Ichioka and Patsy Mink.

Yuji Ichioka and Patsy Mink's contributions are too numerous to include in this newsletter. If you are unfamiliar with these individuals, we encourage you to read more about them by going to a few of the links listed below.

Yuji Ichioka and Patsy Mink - thank you for your many life achievements. We will miss you.

Background on Yuji Ichioka
Yuji Ichioka was a renowned UCLA historian, professor, and activist. Professor Ichioka helped coin the term "Asian American" back in the late 1960's and was a key founder of the Asian American Studies Center as UCLA.

His scholarly works included books on the Japanese interment and collaborative work in compiling the Japanese American Research Project (JARP) Collection at UCLA.

Professor Ichioka's activist work included the Japanese American Redress movement, the Civil Rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and many lesser know fights to right past injustices.

A public tribute to Professor Yuji Ichioka will be held on Sat., October 19, 2002, from 10:30 a.m - 1 p.m.. at the James West Alumni Center at UCLA (next to Pauley Pavilion). Park in Lot 6 ($7/day). Friends and the general public are invited.

For more information, please contact the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, (310)825-2974 or dtn@ucla.edu

Background on Patsy Mink
Patsy Mink was the first Asian American woman elected to the United States Congress. She represented Hawaii for 24 years during two non-consecutive periods.

One of Rep. Mink's most significant achievements in congress was the co-authorship of Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 which bans gender discrimination in federally funded schools and helped to change the face of women's sports and societal attitudes about women.

Ms. Mink was a strong fighter for women, the disadvantaged, and the poor. House minority leader Richard Gephardt said of Rep. Mink that she was the "first Asian American woman admitted to the Hawaii bar; first Asian American woman elected to the legislature; first woman of color ­ in 1964 ­ to win national office … She was a pioneer … She blazed trails. She made it possible for others to follow in her wake."

Kim Gandy and Pat Reuss of the National Organization for Women (NOW) said, "Patsy Mink will always be remembered with love and respect and gratitude. She was our champion - a tireless advocate and a hero to women and girls everywhere."

Editor's Message

To all the new subscribers that we met at recent events and to all the new online subscribers getting the newsletter for the first time, thank you for your support of AACP and for your interest in Asian American books and curriculum materials. We hope that you will find the newsletter to be of value. Your feedback will help to make it so.

Asian Americans - A Part of Humanity Too
Editorial by Leonard Chan and Philip Chin

We are more than just Asians. We are more than Asian Americans. We are Asian Americans that are also citizens of the world.

30 plus years ago, Yuji Ichioka helped coined the term Asian American. Prior to the use of Asian American, people of Asian ancestry might be called Orientals, Asiatics, or something much worse. The ethnic political movements of the 1960s and 70s strived to unite minorities and give us an identity that reminded everyone that we were both Asian and Americans too.

In recent years I have heard people speak despairingly of hyphenated terms such as Asian or African- American. I've even heard some people say that American should have come before the ethnic modifier so that people would know that we thought of ourselves as Americans first and as Asian second. As the 2000 census has made clear, ethnic descriptions are becoming more and more blurred as Americans have begun to intermarry.

I see nothing wrong with the use of Asian American to describe myself. I am proud to be an American of Asian ancestry. It is part of who I am and it helps to describe me. I do not use this term to divide me from the rest of America. I see the term as a reminder of my cultural roots and of our shared historical experiences here in the United States.

Perhaps in the future when the world is fully integrated, such terms might become obsolete. I say now that we should prepare for that day and add a new descriptor to the term. "Asian American Earthling" or "Asian American Human" - whatever we use, it will remind us that we are all citizens of this planet Earth.

Nationalism within the various countries of the world has done us all a grave disservice. All the people of the world must get over the arrogant notion that their way of life is the best. Such thoughts only help to divide us and take us away from the simple fact that we are all part of one human family. Perhaps if we ever get to that point, we will truly be ready for world peace.

That's all for now fellow Earthlings :).

ADDITIONS TO OUR WEBSITE

The following books are discounted for subscribers to our newsletter. The discounts on these books end October 31, 2002.

Farmer's MarketFamilies Working Together

The book follows how food and other products get to market by introducing the reader to two Southeastern Minnesota families that sell their produce at the farmer's market. The Thao family are Hmong immigrants and the Kornder family are Polish German descendants.

Tamaitai SamoaTheir Stories

By Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop
1996, 202 pages, Paperback.

Samoan women's interviews and stories are recorded in this anthology. The interviews and stories recount the life histories of a wide variety of Samoan women. The in-depth stories help to illustrate the life changes and stages that these woman have gone through over the ages.

Not Always SoPracticing the True Spirit of Zen

Shunryu Suzuki's first book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, published in 1971, continues to be one of the world's most valued books on Buddhism. Now the long-awaited companion volume, Not Always So, has arrived.

Lectures taken from the last three years Shunryu Suzuki's life are carefully transcribed and edited by Edward Brown for this book.